Chef Wang knew some of the relationships between the Wen family and Xu's Restaurant, and was also worried that Wen Pingling would mind him going to Xu's Restaurant. After all, he was invited to Yuanbao Town by Wen Pingling. If it weren't for Wen Pingling, he wouldn't have known that there was a young cook in Yuanbao Town who was so good at cooking. He also knew that Xu's restaurant recruited helpers, and the young cook could teach cooking skills. Anyway, he was a lonely man. His wife and children died in the disaster years earlier, leaving him alone. He had been living alone all these years, and cooking was the only thing on his mind, and he had never thought about anything else.

So now that Wen Pingling has closed the Xiangrui Restaurant, he wants to go to Xu's to learn cooking. He is happy to spend the rest of his life working in Miss Xu's restaurant.

In the beginning, he actually didn't like Wen Lingling very much, but since they were employer and employee, it didn't matter. Half a year later, he also saw that the girl had calmed down a bit. She was domineering at the beginning, but now she is much more restrained. After all, she has suffered a lot. It's inevitable to suffer when making a living outside. She is not a rich lady. Her family just has some money. She has no power or influence. It is normal for her to suffer. It has also made her grow up.

Chef Wang, on the contrary, thought it was a good thing.

Now seeing that the girl was willing to let him go to Xu's, he thanked the girl and left.

This summer is a bit hot. It's only the beginning of summer, but it's already very hot at noon.

The weather was a bit abnormal, and Xu Qinyu was a little worried.

In times like this, the weather is too hot and drought is likely to occur, which will affect the crop yield. If the harvest is poor this year, many people will starve to death.

She has been busy making new food these days, all of which are relatively homely dishes. For a dish of shredded chicken with spicy cucumber, she uses a whole chicken, which must be free-range and must be no more than one year old, so that the meat is tender and not dry. The whole chicken is slaughtered and soaked in water with ginger slices, scallions and a little salt to remove the fishy smell. Then it is taken out and the skin is poured with boiling water to scald it. This way the chicken skin will be tight and chewy, with a hint of crispness.

This way you can steam it.

After steaming, the chicken skin is crispy and tender, and the chicken meat is fresh and tender. Then the whole steamed chicken is shredded, the cucumber is cut into shreds, and an appropriate amount of coriander and fried peanuts are added. Then add the sauce she prepared, and a dish of spicy and refreshing shredded cucumber and chicken that goes well with rice is ready. The green peppercorns are the highlight. In order to save seasoning, she grinds the green peppercorns into powder.

Cucumber is cucumber.

Many people prefer to eat chicken skin, but using only chicken skin is too expensive.

There are no modern suppliers that specialize in supplying various ingredients here, so there are many dishes that Qinyu cannot make, such as duck tongue and spicy chicken feet with ginger, because the ingredients here are not allowed and are all sold whole. If she only disassembles the chicken feet to cook, the remaining ingredients will be difficult to deal with, so she will cook with whole ingredients whenever possible.

In addition to pepper and sesame cucumber shredded chicken, there is also a dish of winter melon stuffed with meat.

This is also easy to make. Cut the winter melon into long thin slices, roll it up, stuff it with the prepared pork belly filling, steam it in a pot, and finally use starch water and her prepared blanched sauce to boil it in a pot over high heat until it becomes a fragrant and smooth sauce. Pour it on the steamed winter melon and stuffed pork, and sprinkle with chopped green onions.

Winter melon stuffed with meat has a light taste. With the winter melon, the meat filling is not greasy at all and has a hint of sweetness. It is suitable for both the elderly and children.

Finally, there is a dish of eggplant and preserved egg. In fact, it would taste better if green peppers were added, but since there are no green peppers, you have to skip it.

This dish is also simple. Steam the eggplant, tear it into strips, put it in a stone mortar, add garlic cloves and preserved eggs, and finally add some salt, soy sauce and rice vinegar for seasoning, sprinkle with some chopped dogwood and it's done. This dish is more delicious than shredded chicken with cucumber and pepper. It doesn't look very good, but the taste is amazing, and the price is not expensive, only twenty cents per serving. It soon became one of the must-order dishes on every table at Xu's.

You can make a lot of shredded chicken with cucumber and pepper at one time. Steam the chicken and keep it chilled. When you are ready to eat, add the shredded cucumber for seasoning and serve. If you can't finish it, you can give it to the restaurant staff as a snack in the evening.

They are all relatively simple dishes. Although they are simple home-cooked dishes, the taste is extraordinary. They are fresh food. In addition, the weather is hot, so these fresh food are more appetizing and go well with rice. There are quite a few people coming to eat. Some of them are also thinking about the shrimps and snails in sauce, as well as the stir-fried red fruits, hawthorn drink, and brown sugar milk mochi made last year.

In short, no matter whether it is the old dishes or the new dishes, Xu Ji is very popular.

With Dong Qian by her side, Xu Qinyu felt much more relaxed. She could even go to the front to see how the diners were eating.

There were ice cubes placed in the four corners of the dining room in front, which relieved some of the heat, but it was still a bit hot. What made Xu Qinyu feel proud was that even on such a hot day, Xu's restaurant was full of diners. Some people were queuing and walking around the market outside with number plates. When they got their turn, they could come over to eat.

What made Xu Qinyu feel even more comfortable was that no matter whether it was breakfast or dinner, as long as the diners were at Xu's, there would basically be no leftovers.

Unless you accidentally order too much food and are so full that you can’t eat any of it, you will end up packing up and taking it away.

This is also the greatest affirmation that diners can give to a restaurant.

Xu Qinyu took a breath at the door of the restaurant, and saw an old man with slightly gray hair coming to the door of Xu's. Although the old man's hair was slightly gray, his face was still rosy and rosy, and there were not many wrinkles on his face. He should be about fifty years old.

The old man bowed when he saw Xu Qinyu, "Excuse me, are you the owner of Xu's? My last name is Wang, and I used to be a chef at Xiangrui Restaurant. I heard that Xu's was looking for an assistant chef, and Xiangrui Restaurant is now closed, so I wanted to give it a try."

Chef Wang.

Of course Xu Qinyu recognized him. He was the famous chef that Wen Lingling had specially invited from Raozhou City. He was good at cooking poultry and had several specialty dishes.

Some of his specialties are indeed good, but Yuanbao Town already had Donglai Ju and Xu Ji, and most diners are unwilling to move. They may have tried Xiangrui Restaurant, but apart from those few signature dishes, the rest of Chef Wang's dishes are just average.

Just a few signature dishes are not enough to support a restaurant.

Xu Qinyu knew that Xiangrui Restaurant would not be able to survive sooner or later.

But she didn't expect that Chef Wang was willing to come to Xu Ji to be an assistant chef.

Xu Qinyu was a little surprised. "Chef Wang is really willing to come to Xu's to be a kitchen helper? If you don't mind, I would be very happy to do so."

With Chef Wang by her side, Xu Qinyu felt that she could go and explore Raozhou City.

In fact, Xu Ji is just right now with her and Dong Qian, plus Cheng Ge'er, Feng Ge'er and Da Niu are all growing up slowly. Even if she leaves Xu Ji, they can still support Xu Ji.

But with Chef Wang, Xu Qinyu taught him how to cook for a month or two. Chef Wang already had the basics and was very talented in cooking. He was born in a poor family and learned the skills from his master, but his master did not teach him much. He only taught him some relatively superficial cooking skills. However, he relied on his own understanding to make his own signature dishes, which shows that he was very talented in cooking and all he lacked was a master to guide him.

Chef Wang’s shortcomings are also very obvious. He is good at making poultry dishes, but not so good at other aspects. So as long as I am willing to teach, Chef Wang will be able to get the hang of it quickly.

When she goes to Raozhou City, whether she brings Chef Wang or Cheng Ge'er and Feng Ge'er, they will all have a helper, so she is naturally willing to let Chef Wang stay.

She had wanted to leave the Pei family before, not for any other reason, but because her fourth brother was older than her, and it would not be right for her to stay in the Pei family all the time. In addition, she herself wanted to go to Raozhou City and explore the city, and open a bigger restaurant, or a farm-style restaurant that combined food, drink, and entertainment.

In her previous life, she planned to become a cooking god and open a restaurant like Xu's to support herself in her old age, but she was in a car accident before she could do so.

Xu Qinyu had not discussed these ideas with the Pei family yet. Now that Chef Wang was here, she thought she could discuss them with the Pei family.

Chef Wang nodded. "Actually, I was worried that Mr. Xu would not want me to stay. After all, I was a chef at Xiangrui Restaurant before. If Mr. Xu doesn't mind, I will stay at Xu's."

Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Of course not. Mr. Wang, please come in."

Since they wanted to help the chef and learn how to cook, the two of them didn't say anything polite. Xu Qinyu led Chef Wang to the kitchen.

Everyone was very happy to see Chef Wang.

Chef Wang stayed in Xu's as an assistant chef and learned cooking from Xu Qinyu.

After staying for just one day, Chef Wang realized that the young lady really wanted to teach him her cooking skills. He learned seriously and cooked several of his specialties for everyone to taste. Even Xu Qinyu thought that Chef Wang's specialties were indeed very good and tasted excellent, but the seasoning could be slightly adjusted to make the taste even better. She also discussed cooking with Chef Wang. Chef Wang tried the seasoning she mentioned, and the taste became smoother and more fragrant, almost bringing the taste of the whole dish to perfection.

Chef Wang was truly impressed by Xu Qinyu's cooking skills.

He used to think that the young chef at Xu's cooked delicious food with a wide variety of dishes, and that she must have a great recipe book. But after coming here, he realized how precise Ms. Xu's control over ingredients, seasonings and cooking temperature was, even an old chef like him who had been cooking for almost 40 years felt ashamed of himself.

He rented a yard in Yuanbao Town.

Chef Wang stayed at Xu's restaurant.

After hearing this, Wen Ling just curled her lips. She had already planned to convert the wine shop into a rice shop. In addition to selling grain, she could also collect eggs and poultry from the village and game hunted by hunters in the mountains.

But she was not in a hurry. Converting the restaurant into a rice shop would definitely require some renovation, and it would take at least a month before the rice shop could open.

It’s only early summer and the temperature in the southwest is getting hotter day by day. Fortunately, it rained a few days later and it’s finally not so hot anymore.

Xu Qinyu's worries were finally relieved.

It started to rain in other places as well, and most people breathed a sigh of relief.

It was already early summer, and Mrs. Lu's winery had opened. In addition to helping pick hawthorns in the mountains, Tao Qi and his friends also helped pick wild grapes this year.

The grape seedlings that Xu Qinyu had people plant last year have all climbed up the trellises. All the grape seedlings in the yard of the house in Laixi Lane have climbed up the trellises, and one has even climbed onto the wooden pavilion.

The grape seedlings in the few acres of grape fields she planted have already climbed up the trellises. It is estimated that they will start to bear fruit next year, but she does not know what the yield will be in the first year.

The winery has started to make wine, and Xu Qinyu plans to go to Raozhou City after this year's batch of wine is sold. This way, she will have about 50,000 taels of silver on her, which is enough even if she wants to open a restaurant in Raozhou City.

In addition, my fourth brother has been busy recently, so he came back a few days ago. He looked thinner and stayed at home for only one day before leaving again.

Ning Jie'er's Linglong Pavilion business was getting better and better, and she hired a few more embroiderers.

At the beginning of spring, Xu Qinyu helped Feng'er and Yuan'er find a school, and they began to learn to read and write with an old scholar in a private school. Since the death of old lady Zhu, she had nothing else to do, so she stayed at home to take care of Feng'er and Yuan'er, and took good care of the two children, so Wen and Xu Qinyu didn't have to worry about them at all.

Chef Wang was a quick learner and in just one month he was already able to be the chef.

Xu Qinyu also had more free time and could go to the winery during the day to help brew wine.

After what happened in the winery last year, no one dared to secretly make wine at home this year. They now understood why they had to ask Xu's boss to adjust the proportions when making wine. So that's how it is. Even though it looks simple, as long as the grapes and rock sugar are not right, it will not be possible to make wine with such a pure taste.

This year when Xu Qinyu came to make wine, she also brought Xu Tiao with her.

He has the most sensitive sense of smell among the four children. Xu Qinyu plans to train him and hand over the winery to him in the future.

Xu Qinyu taught him how to smell the ingredients, when the wine is suitable for turning the altar after fermentation, and how to match grapes and rock sugar. She slowly taught him everything.

Xu Qinyu brought him here when the winery was making wine last year. When the first batch of wine was made this year, he could already smell the fermentation of the wine. He could also smell when the first fermented wine was opened and bottled for the second fermentation.

There is more wine this year than last year.

After Zhen Wu sent the first batch to the capital, just like last year, Xu Qinyu asked Zhen Wu to send another hundred bottles of wine to the second room of the Dechang Marquis Mansion in the capital.

Xue also knew that Zhen Wu would continue to send her wine this year, so she wrote a letter early and asked Zhen Wu to give it to her daughter.

In the letter, Xue just nagged her daughter to take care of her health and not to overwork herself. She also told Xu Qinyu not to worry about home, and told Yuniang that her uncle had rented another shop and expanded the barbecue stall a lot, so all the previous barbecue and drink recipes could be used.

He also said that his uncle's business was very good and he made a lot of money every month, and he gave her a lot of dividends. He told Yu Niang not to worry about home and not to send money home anymore, and he told Yu Niang to keep it all for herself. He also told Yu Niang that the ham that the caravan sent during the New Year was also very delicious, and he gave two to his uncle and two to the eldest wife.

Xue talked a lot to Yu Niang, but she didn't tell her daughter about the situation in the capital, because she was afraid that the letter would be intercepted by someone with ulterior motives and she might say something wrong. If that happened, Prince Shu would continue to be exiled as a commoner, which would be a capital crime.

Taking the letter from Xue to Miss Xu, Zhen Wu left the Dechang Marquis' Mansion.

He planned to continue sending the wine to his friends as he did in previous years to see which noble families wanted to buy the wine this year.

He felt that based on last year's success, this year's batch of wine would definitely sell better. This year, about 10,000 bottles of wine were delivered to the capital, a little more than last year.

Unexpectedly, this year, the friend pulled Zhen Wu aside in a mysterious manner, his face showing excitement and a hint of fear. He pulled Zhen Wu aside and said, "Brother Zhen, can you ship all the wine from your winery to the capital this year?"

Zhen Wu frowned, "I'm afraid that won't work. This is the only batch of wine that will be sent to the capital this year. We already made an appointment with those families in other states last year."

The man suddenly whispered, "Brother Zhen, you don't know that at the beginning of this year, a man came to me and said that he wanted all the wine this year, and asked you to send all the wine in the winery to the capital."

Zhen Wu frowned, "Even if they are from a royal family, you can't force them to do anything."

The man tugged at Zhen Wu's clothes and whispered, "Brother Zhen, you don't know that man has a white face and no beard, and speaks in a shrill voice. Guess who in the capital speaks like that?"

When Zhen Wu heard this, he was also shocked.

Naturally, only eunuchs would have such characteristics and speak in this way.

But eunuchs either serve in the palace or serve princes and princesses.

However, there were only a few young princes and princesses left in the capital, and they were all still in the palace and could not leave the palace to build a mansion, so it was definitely not the eunuchs around these princes and princesses. It was not that there were no princes who left the palace to build a mansion, but since the new emperor ascended the throne, the princes who left the palace to build a mansion were all given fiefs and driven to their fiefs. Without the new emperor's decree, the princes could not return to the capital privately, otherwise it would be a serious crime.

The rest are the eunuchs in the palace.

No matter who this eunuch serves in the palace, Zhen Wu cannot afford to offend him.

He hesitated for a moment, and was also worried that if he didn't sell it, it would bring trouble to Madam Lu, Miss Xu and the Pei family. He already knew the identity of the Pei family, so after thinking about it, he finally decided to sell it.

He said, "Okay, as long as you pay the money, I can sell it to anyone."

The man said, "Brother Zhen, don't worry about that. He will definitely give the money."

Zhen Wu waited for a day and indeed saw a middle-aged man with a pale face and no beard. He was thin and paid the money very readily.

Zhen Wu took the banknote back to Yuanbao Town and told Mrs. Lu about the matter.

Madam Lu frowned and said, "I have to go and tell Miss Xu."

Although the Pei family has become commoners now, they are still worried that if the wine is really bought by the palace, it will bring trouble to Miss Xu and the Pei family.

Zhen Wu couldn't help but say, "It's also my fault. I shouldn't have sent the wine to the capital to sell it."

Madam Lu shook her head. "It has already happened. Let's go ask Miss Xu first."

The two went to look for Xu Qinyu, and Zhen Wu first gave her the letter that Xue brought to Xu Qinyu.

After seeing Xue's letter, Xu Qinyu was still a little anxious. She wanted to see what Xue had written to her. In fact, even if she didn't see the content of the letter, she probably knew what Xue would say to her, but she was still looking forward to the letter from home.

She found that she had become her original self and had inherited some of her original self's emotions. Her feelings towards the people in the second branch of Marquis Dechang's Mansion and her relatives, she no longer just regarded them as her original self's family members, she also cared about them very much in her heart.

Seeing that Zhen Wu came with Madam Lu this time, Xu Qinyu probably anticipated something and asked after a moment of hesitation, "But what happened to the batch of wine sent to the capital?"

Zhen Wu did not hide it and told Xu Qinyu about it.

After hearing this, Xu Qinyu was indeed a little worried. She was also worried that the Pei family or the family of Dechang Marquis' Mansion would be implicated.

The Pei family has been demoted to commoners, and if the people in the palace use her wine to deal with the Pei family,

Xu Qinyu thought for a moment and said, "It's okay. If an enemy comes, we can stop him. If a flood comes, we can block it with earth."

Although she said this, she couldn't let it go in her heart.

I thought that if something really happened, after I separated from the Pei family, even if someone in the palace really used the wine to set up a trap, it would not even implicate the Pei family. But how can I cut off my relationship with the second branch of the Marquis Dechang's Mansion?

She certainly didn't want to get involved in trouble, having been transported to such a place and with such an identity, and having been so unlucky, now that her life was finally getting better, she certainly didn't want to be like this anymore. She just wanted to open her own restaurant, buy some land, become a landlady, and live a leisurely life.

Wait for Zhen Wu and Madam Lu to leave.

When they returned to the house in Laixi Lane in the evening, Xu Qinyu first told Mrs. Wen about this matter.

Finally, he said, "Mother, it just so happens that I am planning to divorce my fourth brother and separate from him. After the separation, even if the palace really uses the wine to make a fuss, this matter will not affect you. Besides, my fourth brother will be 23 next year and should get married and have children. My marriage with my fourth brother is not valid. It was the idea of ​​the Dechang Marquis's Mansion. This matter is not your fault. I have never blamed you. In the past few years, my fourth brother and I have been like brother and sister, so I should make it clear to my fourth brother. After the divorce, if the wine is fine, I plan to open a wine shop or restaurant in Raozhou City. What do you think, mother?"

In fact, even the original body never blamed the Pei family.

The people the original body hated the most were Xu Qinhui and the old lady of Marquis Dechang, because the original body knew very well in its heart that it was the two of them who pushed her out to marry off and exile her. How could a weak woman endure the suffering of exile? To put it bluntly, Xu Qinhui and the old lady of Marquis Dechang didn't care about the original body's life or death, and it didn't matter if she died.

So when Xu Qinhui sent her a letter for unknown reasons hoping to reconcile, it was impossible for Xu Qinyu to write back and forgive her.

When Mrs. Wen heard this, she was shocked. She was also a little worried that someone in the palace was using wine to make trouble.

But what worries her more is that Yu Niang wants to divorce. She knows her son's feelings, but her son is unwilling to tell her his feelings, and she has no choice. Compared with her son's feelings, Yu Niang's heart is the most important.

This was a matter between her son and Yu Niang, and she couldn't just mix it up. She couldn't see that Yu Niang had any romantic feelings for her son, and if that was the case, she wouldn't force Yu Niang to stay.

Wen looked at Xu Qinyu and said gently, "If it's because of the wine, mother would definitely not agree with you getting divorced. Let's face it together. But you said that in the past two years, almost three years, you came to our house, and you and Xuan Ge'er really haven't been married, nor have you consummated your marriage. You still treat each other like brother and sister. If you really want to treat Xuan Ge'er as your brother and get a divorce, mother will listen to you. But this matter has to wait until Xuan Ge'er comes back, and you can discuss it with him again."

Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Thank you, mother. I will talk to my fourth brother when he comes back."

Wen was truly a very gentle person, and she somewhat understood why the late emperor was willing to pamper her.

Even though Wen was indeed not suitable to be the empress.

After that, the fourth brother never came back until the end of summer two months later.